


Judge

by RainbowArches



Series: Safe House [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-03 22:30:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6629605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowArches/pseuds/RainbowArches
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akela feels uncertain about her powers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Judge

Akela and her friends used to play on the bleachers at this very ball diamond. The place had been a hazard then and it wasn’t any safer now. But Akela wasn’t running around or using them for gymnastics. She was just sitting and enjoying the breeze. Some guy in dirty overalls was having his lunch break on the other set of bleachers, far enough away that she could pretend he wasn't there.

Until something felt wrong. She hadn't been paying attention to the guy at all so she couldn’t explain where the feeling came from, but it had her on her feet in a flash and running to him before she registered what she was doing. The rock crept its way up his body as she ran. There were images in Akela’s head that she couldn’t see but gave her the certainty that This Wasn’t Supposed To Happen. Even as she tried to argue to herself that it was none of her business she couldn’t stop herself from intervening.

She reached the cocoon as it closed over his face. She dug her nails in and it collapsed into dust, fading into nothing at their feet, leaving no evidence of itself behind.

The guy stared at her with wide, terrified eyes. She opened her mouth, trying to find comforting words for him, but he bolted before she made a sound. She looked down at the sandwich and nudged it through the gap with her foot.

 

Nick felt it inside him before it appeared. It gave him time to put his mug down and step away from the table. It was an odd feeling, like a part of himself had decided long ago that he would give himself over to it and was warring with the part of himself that had only just found out about Inhumans and terrigenesis and didn’t want it.

“Mike,” he said. “Get Akela.” He had to focus to get the words out. Behind him Mike turned from the sink to see what the problem was.

The terrigen crawled up his legs. “Get Akela. Now. I can’t-- I don’t want—“

Akela had been more than willing to break the cocoon because apparently that was what Nick wanted. But once she was in front of it she couldn’t bring herself to break it. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she should Leave It Alone. She felt bad. Nick had made it easy for her, had given her permission. But she just couldn’t do it.

“Help him!”

“I wouldn’t _be_ helping him.”

“Yes you would!”

She was more reluctant than she ever thought she’d be but she got her nails into the cocoon and collapsed it. She'd vowed not to do that unless she'd been told to, no matter what her gut told her. Luckily this was the first cocoon she’d been confronted with since the guy on the bleachers. She hadn’t expected it to be such a fight with herself.

“Thanks,” said Nick. He picked up his mug and poured the contents into the sink.

Mike picked a container off the counter and scanned the ingredients. “May contain fish oil. The hell? It’s cocoa.”

 

Farrah was the first child they took in and she still wasn’t showing any powers. She had claws and horns like a goat’s and onyx eyes. She was four years old, just a smidge tall for her age. She didn’t speak but she was expressive and kind. Her parents were terrified of her and didn’t stick around long after Akela showed up. Akela had been scared too when she first met her, but had done her best to keep it hidden. She wasn’t scared anymore. The other kids had no problem with her either, though her silence confused some of them. Farrah never did anything scary. She was delighted by potty jokes and stomped around and sulked when she was upset like most kids Akela had met.

Akela wondered what she would have done if she’d been there when Farrah transformed. Would she feel like she should break it or leave it alone? If Farrah’s parents had told her to break it should she have listened to them? Or sit on her hands because Farrah hadn’t indicated one way or the other?

The whole thing was messy and complicated. She couldn't track down every Inhuman before they transformed and explain to them what was about to happen so they could make an informed decision. And in that case, was her call not to do anything unless they said so the right one? She stood by it because she didn’t want to take power away from them in an already powerless position, but she still wondered. But given that they were dealing with children, should she listen to them or their parents? Akela didn’t leave the base much simply because she was scared of encountering that situation. Some days she forgot she had a superpower. Then she remembered and thought herself into a panic attack.

Farrah took her transformation in stride. The thought that Akela, had she been there, might have thought No and broken it, made her angry. She was glad she hadn’t been there. She didn’t want to think that about anyone, especially not a child.

 

Akela and Mike took the kids outside to work off the ice-cream sugar rush. Nick had muttered to them under his breath that he was going to go call Hill because had this overwhelming sense that she was walking into a death trap. He’d said that about Alisha recently and then again about Jasper. He’d been right both times (sort of; they’d survived) and she was sure he’d be right again. Now she and Mike had to watch a bunch of hyperactive superpowered children while not letting on how twitchy and anxious they felt.

How complete were Nick’s powers? She’d broken the cocoon but he got powers anyway. Did the guy on the bleachers end up with anything? If he got his hands on more terrigen would he cocoon again? Did she even do it right? She needed some sort of Inhuman expert. Someone to tell her the point of all this. It was supposed to be simple. You get superpowers, you save the world. What was she supposed to do?

Nick tapped their shoulders lightly, alerting them to his presence. “Hill’s fine,” he said. “Just a couple of violently scared neighbors.”

 

“What did she want?” She kept her voice soft. They didn’t avoid discussing business around the kids but they tried at least to be quiet and vague about it. Mike was distracting them with cereal.

“Just looking out for her people.”

Akela nodded, dried the plate he handed her and put it away. “Is she coming back?”

“If we need her to,” Nick said after a moment.

_Needing_ to come back wasn’t a good thing. But it also wasn’t a thing that was likely to happen. Some of these kids-- _kindergarteners--_ could defend themselves without lifting a finger, which was more than Akela could do for them. But the idea of this place was to get them out of an environment where they’d be forced to do that.

“Maybe she’d be better off here. We could use someone a little less new to all this.”

“That’s just another paper trail I’d prefer to avoid.” Nick studied her, concern furrowing his brow. “You can call Alisha.”

Alisha had assured her that she could look after the kids, check on the families, and come help out when they needed without getting distracted. She was very good at multitasking, she said. That was the whole point. Akela didn’t buy it. It sounded too simple.

“She’s got her hands full.”


End file.
